Tennessee

HAAP cancels deer hunts due to EHD, Times News, July 2, 2018Due to a disease outbreak among the white-tailed deer population on the Holston Army Ammunition Plant property late last summer, the installation will not be holding any deer hunts this year.

Deer cull proposed as overpopulation threatens West TN neighborhoods, WMCActionNews.com, July 23, 2018Wildlife officials in West Tennessee say the deer population around Collierville needs to be thinned out. The Chickasaw Basin Authority has been studying a deer cull, or how to control the deer population, for roughly a year. The deer cull is in its final planning stages and would take place near the Wolf River. It was proposed by residents in Collierville, who find the deer to be a menace. A CBA official said the deer are running out of food, and experts recommend thinning the herd 20 percent a year for 10 years. It will also prevent the spread of diseases.

Deer hunts canceled at Holston Army Ammunition due to disease outbreak, June 26, 2018The Holston Army Ammunition Plant says it is canceling deer hunts at Holston Army Ammunition Plant in Kingsport due to a disease that is devastating the deer population. According to plant officials, the decision was made as a result of an outbreak of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) which it says already killed several deer late last summer.

Deer have a right to be at Shelby Farms, CommercialAppeal, Feb 5, 2018Managing urban deer, especially in a situation like Shelby Farms, where the deer move easily along regional treks that take them from county to county presents a significant challenge. “A lot of people are working on this and trying to figure it out and someone will figure it. And we’re keeping our eye on that,” said Jen Andrews, CEO of the Shelby Farms Park Conservancy. “Shelby Farms is different situation than the rest of state because in most of state there’s sport hunting allowed. The deer hunters take 150,000 deer or more a year. So we can knock the population down and keep them at a sustainable level,” Peterson said. “But with Shelby Farms being in the city, there’s no way that’s impossible. So the rest of the state doesn’t’ have the problem that Shelby Farms does.”

Deer culling idea up for debate in Hendersonville, The Tennessean, June 8, 2015Ames said on Monday he expects the committee to discuss the results of aerial surveys conducted March 21 and April 11. The survey covered 45 square miles and included all of the current city limits as well as planned expansion, according to a USDA Wildlife Services’ report obtained by the Star News. The report says that 436 deer were observed during the survey and estimates that there are at least 872 deer, or 19.4 deer per square mile.

Hendersonville’s deer culling proposal gets another shot, The Tennessean, Jan 14, 2015Hendersonville leaders passed on Tuesday an ordinance that could make the city the first in the state to hire sharpshooters certified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to cull its urban deer herd. The ordinance recommended by the committee passed on first reading Dec. 9 — but had been amended to remove three key sections that would allow up to $18,000 for the first year of a deer control program. The program would call for the baiting of deer to private land and the removal of them by sharpshooters certified by the USDA. Deer meat would then be donated to local food banks. The plan included an aerial survey both before and after the culling at a cost of $6,000.

Hendersonville deer committee backs 6-week USDA hunt, Tennessean, Aug 13, 2014“We looked at all the options from doing nothing to contraception,” said Alderman Don Ames, a member of the committee. “And this was the best program we could come up with.” Besides the use of lethal measures, other solutions include placing deer crossing or warning signs in areas of the city where the number of deer collisions are high; providing information to the public about how to repel or deter deer; and establishing an ongoing committee to monitor the program’s progress and recommend future management techniques.

Are we helpless?

"The native plants are tramped down, the bushes are gnawed, and my three-year-old grandson can't play in the back yard because of the deer droppings. If humans entered our property and exacted such a toll we would have legal recourse We're watching the curb appeal and property value decline at a time when our taxes are rising. We are without defense."
M. Holland, Ann Arbor resident